ILLUS:The
Department of Transportation has set aside $200 million for research and testing
of an Automated
Highway System. This system would purportedly relieve
traffic woes with "super cruise control" in heavily congested
cities.

Special magnets embedded in the asphalt every four feet would transfer
signals between vehicle and main computer system. Steering, acceleration, and
braking would be controlled by sensors, computers navigation systems, and
cameras along the side of the road. Control would be returned to drivers at
their specified exit.

Researchers and government officials claim they have the technological
capability to address any potential problem. But one challenge they have yet to
address.

Says Mike Doble, Buick's technology manager, "The only thing we can't do
yet is get people to comfortably trust the system. It's not a technology issue.
Would you drive, closely spaced, at high speeds, through San
Diego?"

God has a program of abundant life
for His children ... it is not one however free from troubles!He gives us steps to take when facing
life, these are contained in His Word, some of these steps are found in order in
Psalm 37 written by David through the
Spirit.

These steps MUST be taken in the
order God gives us in this passage.Some jump quickly to Psalm 37:4 before
reading and obeying Psalm 37:1-3, you can't do
this!Everything God made has
order to it, so does His plan for our happiness and abundant living.To take the steps out of order will
leave you with a confused happiness at
best!

The best sellers list hasalways had many books on how
to find "happiness" and "abundant life," even about “success,” BUT the key is
found still in the best seller of all: THE BIBLE, God's
Word.

PROP.
SENT:The Word of God teaches us how to
find God's happiness and abundant life ... step by step!It begins by not fretting, and living in
faith!

I.FRETTING!Psalm
37:1-2; Matt. 6:25-32

A.Basic
ProvisionsPsalm
37:1; Matt. 6:25-32

1.Security!Psalm
37:1

a.The need to feel safe is in all of
us!

b.We could fear what is happening in
our society:

(1.Crime rate

(2.Murder

(3.Rape

(4.Terrorism

(5.Economic and social
collapse

c.Fretting leads to envy of the
prosperous wicked and their ways!Psalm 37:lb

(2.However we are "like trees
planted by the water"Psalm 1:3 --
we are solid and go on forever bearing
fruit!

(a.A tree planted by waters can
withstand droughts unlike the grass in the open field … their roots are near the
water, so they are much more likely to survive a dry
spell!

(b.Their life is much more stable
because they are always connected to a source of life.

d.Our security is not just a police
force, etc.It is God who watches
over us!

ILLUS:I
remember watching a father play with his little boy, repeatedly throwing him in
the air and catching him just before he hit the ground. The child is relaxed and having a great
time saying, "Do it again! Do it again!"

I thought, If that was me, I'd be stiff as a
board.

"Can you explain why he's so relaxed, even when he's
out of control?" I asked the
father.

"It's
very simple," he said. "We have a
history together. We've played this
game before, and I've never dropped him." -- Rod
Cooper, "Worship or Worry?" Preaching Today, Tape No. 108.

2.Food & DrinkMatt.
6:25-26

a.God made our bodies ... He can
provide for them easily!

b.The body is more important than the
food, If God provides the greater, He certainly can and will provide the
lesser!

3.Clothes & shelter!Matt.
6:28

a.God also provides these
necessities!

b.Again the lesser items: God
provides for the more important as well, our
body.

B.Becoming Paranoid!Matt.
6:26-32

1.We panic too
much!

a.Something doesn't go just right, in
our timing!

b.Fretting results ... and results in
more fretting!

2.Signs of
fretting!

a.Physical
deterioration

b.Narrowed perception of reality:
fretting blocks everything out!

c.Self-pity

d.Anger, or
quarrelsome

e.Laziness

f.Mental
fatigue

g.Insomnia

h.Spiritual
decline

i.Depression

j.Confusion ... inability to
make decisions!

k.Personal hygiene habits change,
lowered!

1.Withdrawal from people and life!
(Suicide in extreme cases)

3.Problem of frettingMatt. 6:27

Fretting isn’t always based on
true facts, and may keep us from great
accomplishments.

ILLUS:In
1983, the U.S.A. issued a
postage stamp commemorating the building of the first steel bridge in
America. It was built across the
Mississippi River at St.
Louis. Many
said it could not be built. They
said it would never support its own weight. So James Eads, the builder, ordered
fourteen locomotives to stop on the bridge at once. Then people trusted the bridge. They called it the eighth wonder of the
world. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
bridge between sinning man and a sinless God. We must trust him in order to
cross it.-- Robert C. Shannon, 1000 Windows,
(Cincinnati, Ohio: Standard Publishing Company, 1997).

a.Fretting only
deals with the problem, never the solution!

b.Fretting is like a locked door,
can't open up solutions!

c.Fretting feeds on itself also ...
leads to more fretting!

d.Fretting destroys faith ... it is
the antithesis of it!

e.Here is one of the basic problems
of secular philosophy and secular psychology ... they help you see the problem
and maybe even the cause of it, but can't always find solutions that are
enduring without God's principles; the ones they have found that work are
already spelled out in God's Word!

f.We can't add time to our life
by fretting (Matt. 6:27) ... in fact we are
told by science that we actually lose time by
fretting!

C.Be
PlanningMatt.
6:26,28

1.“Birds of the
air…”Matt.
6:26

a.The verse is NOT saying birds are
lazy and don't have to do anything!

b.It is saying God supplies the raw
materials for the birds' needs, so they can work hard building nests, raising
the young, harvesting worms, bugs, etc.

c.In other words, they are still
called to plan and work hard, but they trust God for the
materials!

d.Their whole life demonstrates plans
for the future and hard work toward those plans ... they gather straw to build a
nest one day to raise their young in the
future!

e.They gather worms to feed the young
in the hopes that the next generation will be able to carry on,
etc.

f.All the while they do this
they are peaceful and happy; they trust God for the basic raw materials to carry
out what God has called them to do in their
lives!

2.“Lilies of the
field…”Matt.
6:28

a.Same thing here ... the lilies
whole life is geared for the future, to produce a bloom or
fruit!

b.They labor to this end, and they
don't worry about fertilizer, sun­shine, rain, weeds,
etc.

c.They go on faithfully working
toward a future knowing God will provide the raw materials for them to do
so!They don't fret over it.Ever seen a fretting
lily?

d.It almost seems they are doing
nothing; they are peaceful as they grow and do God's will ... they are at peace
while at work!

3.This is God's desire ... activity
and planning, working with peace!

a.God is not calling us to slow down or stop
action!

ILLUS:On
Dudley's seventy-fifth birthday, there was a pilot in his small town who offered
to take Dudley for an airplane ride. Dudley accepted. So for about thirty minutes, they flew
over this small town in West
Virginia. When they landed, one of the old man's friends
asked, "Were you scared, Dudley?" With some
hesitation he said, "Well, no, but I never put my full weight down."When we take our most valuable
possessions and give them to God--our money and our children and our
spouses--our faith in God grows, and we increasingly put our whole weight down
on God.-- John Casey, "Real Giving," Preaching Today, Tape No.
156.

b.It is a call to stop fretting and
trust Him for the raw materials to do whatever it is He has called us to do and
to be!

c.SO: keep planning, working, take on
great adventures for God ... Just don't
fret!

II.FAITH!Matt.
6:33-34

A.Basic
Priority!Matt.
6:33a

1.God must be first or fretting will
result in your life!

a.No farmer demands a harvest before
planting the seeds!

b.Only when God is first can we see a
harvest of blessings and the raw materials given!

c.If He is first we can't
fret!

ILLUS:Emerson
wrote, "All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not
seen." --
Robert C. Shannon, 1000 Windows, (Cincinnati, Ohio: Standard Publishing Company,
1997).

2.This was the whole concept of "first
fruits" in the O.T.

a.When God was first in
Israel, they never lacked for raw
materials.

b.Even God's kingdom must be first
according to the verse here!

c.The reason we don't fret when He is
first is because at the beginning we start with God ... He supplies the raw
materials, it is impossible to put Him first and then lack
something!

B.Best
Program!Matt.
6:33

1."Seek"

a.Notice the activity of this
command!

b.It takes effort
to be peaceful!

c.When God is put first, it is a
proof of our faith!Thus leading to
peace and our needs met!

d.The best program to not fretting is
actually showing that God is first in your life; we do this by our lifestyle and
our priorities!

e.In other words you can't say He is
first and not show it by the way you live!(James said this as well!)

ILLUS:Solomon
sought God first, and God gave him life's other things! Malachi
3:10-12says that when God is first in our
giving, He will open up heaven and pour out blessings we wouldn't believe!
(Malachi 3is the only place where God allows us to test Him!)The Lord's Prayer starts this way:
"THY
KINGDOM COME"...and then later,"GIVE US THIS DAY
OUR DAILY BREAD," notice the
order!

2.Faith & Works go
together!

a.Not in order to be
saved…!

b.BUT: if saved you will
work!

c.How is your life
ordered?

d.What are your priorities?

e.Fretting is a red light flashing
... warning that faith is being
lost!

3.The best program for not fretting
is simply putting God first in our
lives!

4.The pagans (Gentiles) run after the
basics, why ... because they don't know of God's loving provisions, but we
do!

a.It is natural for them to
fret

b.It is unnatural for us to
fret!

C.Being
Peaceful!Matt.
6:34

1.Knowing God takes perfect care of
little things that aren't as important to God as we are gives us
faith!

a.Birds and lilies are never
abandoned!

b.We certainly won't
be!

2.Learn to live each day one at a
time, don't try and live tomorrow today!You can't anyways!

ILLUS:I used
to carry my aged mother up and down the stairs of our home here in Chicago. And she would
grab onto the banister while I was carrying her up or down the stairs and hold
on to it so tightly we couldn't move.I'd say, "Momma, you have to let go of the banister or we can't
move."And she looked at me with
her plaintive little eyes and said, "I'm afraid you'll drop me."I said, "Momma, I'm going to drop you
right now. When I count to three, I'm going to drop you!" And then she would let
go, and we'd go two more steps, when she would grab on
again.

That is in microcosm my
interaction with God. I'm hanging on to the banisters of life. I'm hanging on to
these little things that make me feel secure. But God loves me more than I love
my little mother, and God would never let me come to any harm. God knows where
we're going.-- John Powell, "Prayer as Surrender," Preaching Today, Tape
No. 108.

a.We only need daily faith, when
tomorrow arrives, God will help you with
it.

3.It is in this context and note that
Matt. 7:7 is understood! “Ask, and it
shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto
you:” Too many take it away from this
context!

CONCLUSION:God's gift of abundant living is
not just some instant zap!It comes
through steps given us in His Word, each taken in order.The first step begins with faith, not
fretting!These steps followed in
order results in abundant living and enduring happiness and
peace.